pro-government militias in libya keep up their deadly assault and seize on colonel gadhafi former stronghold walid with reports that chemical gas is being used. america's global position is the topic for obama romney's final turn on t.v. but the two trying in the polls and voters having a tough time telling them apart party has in-depth coverage. not fresh on rest reported in beirut with people injured after a weekend of volunteer sparked by the assassination of a senior lebanese intelligence official. crosses the energy jibril top announce one

of the biggest deals of this decade now consisting of two pauls of the earth around sixty billion dollars on the big bill eighty years old and about this point three time in our business but i've enjoyed me down. below welcome to our tea for the very latest news from around the globe on charon terror well libyan pro-government militias are continuing to pound the besieged town of bani walid as the standoff over the gadhafi stronghold intensifies there are claims that chemical gases being used amid fierce clashes in the outskirts of the town that have killed over twenty people and left many more wounded hundreds of terrified families have fled their homes has details. it seems like we find out something more and more terrible details every coming hour or so we know right now

that there is the situation and while the which is in its eighteenth day aleph stage of being under this pressure from the pro-government forces as it's getting only worse we have been in contact the starving people who are on the ground and they have given us they have provided the ration for us describing just how dire the situation is in a former gadhafi stronghold of the very proud of. their government. and there are probably. more but i would. prefer the if we could have done better the book or been. coming or going to be obviously there are people who were reading that heavy weaponry has been used that there have been reports. of some sort of gas also being used on the residents opt out you've seen it for yourself model over the place people with body parts sure enough and this is rationed seems to be getting worse and worse and the biting seems to be densify and

there have been residents of the town of the new bani walid who are now in tripoli they marched on the government headquarters to protest the siege of their hometown and they were dispersed by the security personnel were firing. live ammunition heavy weaponry in air they were also protests and been gaz the people there stormed a television station which is that they're only an american owned television channel because they did not like the portrayal of the events that are happening and bani walid of just the recent months there has been an attack on a u.s. embassy in which the bastard or west killed so how these hotspots where you still have some of the gadhafi supporters you also have obviously big bro government troops troops fighting with them and then of course we must not forget about these groups which are all zones radically spread out all over the which are links to al qaeda if there is absolutely no order there is chaos and nobody can tell you when exactly it's going to stop and how hard to spoken to one man in italy his family

has and bani walid he asked us not to reveal his identity because he's scared for their safety. i have of course from my family in there told me that the situation there right there is really horrible there is a heart of all of. everywhere in the city the civilians building our fallen down even the venue and hospital we don't have a lot of medicine right now the house the hospital keep in the wounded people outside from the hospital three weeks that there is no food can go inside but only because of the militias that it's around but nobody the clothes and the rolls that it is the food and the fuel there are women benoit from the three sides they used the house that the rockets and the guys weapons and actually found even a gas mask because the reports of the hospital says really clearly that the civilians there have been bombing today guys. unrest also continues in lebanon with a fresh exchange of fire reported in the capital it follows

a weekend of violent protests sparked by a killing of a top security official which many blame on neighboring syria but in a few minutes one expert tells us it's too dangerous to trust such conclusions. if final t.v. show downs a looming for barack obama and mitt romney they're running neck and neck right now and are expected to ramp up the rhetoric to secure those much needed last minute felts foreign policy will be in the frame later on monday and as part of our tease in-depth coverage that each account looks at how much difference there really is between the two candidates. as we're waiting for the debate on foreign policy the last debate before the election on november the sixth many see it as the make or break point for both campaigns because president obama and governor romney have so far been running neck and neck but whoever is elected america's next commander in chief will take on the same old foreign policy mission and that is to expand the country's influence in the world

but is there that much daylight between the candidates let's try and find out what the rhetoric of the romney team leaves no doubt that he advocates of more intrusive u.s. foreign policy we have to show strength in america that's because he is one that would be despite the one thing we all fear the most is a weak america with. an image of america the current administration is also striving for a robust america in their own way we came we saw you died. when folks mess with americans we go after them as the arab spring are full that the obama administration jumped on the bandwagon of the revolutions hoping to forge better old line with the new leaders. while prompting the change with airstrikes and arms supplies when anti-american protests spread across the muslim world some asked whether it's time for the u.s. to stop meddling in the middle east and north africa i don't see how how we could ever talk about divorcing ourselves from the region if

a no other reason given the push in us policy you still have two primary drivers in terms of national interest and that is oil and israel president obama has strong allies like israel under the bus these three leaders open saber rattling towards in french history or some tension with the white house it's clear the american people don't want to know the costly and devastating war based on phony red lines what should israel decides to attack what would the two candidates do differently if it were to happen i don't think there's going to be much difference ultimately i understand and share this or not you know who's insistence that iran should not obtain a nuclear weapon my red line is iran may not have a nuclear weapon iran is a nuclear nation is unacceptable the united states president obama said exactly the same thing regarding obama's pivot into asia there's not much daylight between him and romney either the policy involves expanding u.s.

military presence to act as a counterbalance against china's growing power and to advance u.s. interests in asia pacific candidate romney showed a willingness to take that pivot to another level ramping up the pressure on beijing i'll crack down on china having been stuck in this cold war mentality he sees the world in very black and white terms so russia is a foe china is a foe it's almost as if the cold war war never ended and that regard the pivot toward asia makes perfect sense to mr romney and i really don't think he would change anything the rhetoric is the issue the the presence of subtlety or the lack of subtlety is a primary difference between mr romney and mr obama in relations with russia unlike romney for whom russia this is without question our number one geopolitical foe president obama avoids cold war rhetoric after all you don't call russia our number one enemy. not all kind of russia. unless you're still stuck in

a cold war mind warp despite a more forthcoming official attitude the administration indicated that they would still forge ahead with plans to build a missile shield close to russia it's a longstanding sore point in the relations between the two countries moscow has many times suggested resulting the issue by building the shields together to no avail. i spoke with former bush administration official colonel lawrence wilkerson and asked him whether a change in the oval office could mean address the change in the way america deals with the world is a marvelous consistency in american foreign policy whether it's wrong headed which it has been much sense especially in one thousand nine hundred ninety the end of the cold war. but there is a marvelous consistency to it and that's because foreign policy is foreign policy and security goals so presidents say one thing and then come in and get briefed and they do another thing generally what they do is much like what the other party would do well even despite the consistency that the u.s.

foreign policy has shown over the years during the debate the candidates still have to outline their differences they can't just say good evening ladies and gentlemen we both agree on pretty much everything so let's call the night we have tom hartman here mr harding thanks for joining me my pleasure the host of the big picture show on our t.v. one attacking. governor romney the obama campaign has this line and i heard it many times they say governor romney what would you do differently as knowing and saying that as the president of the united states he would do exactly the same what do you think well. i think that we have a choice between the iron fist american empire and we have the largest military in the world it's larger than the accumulated militaries of the rest of the planet at least in terms of budget and so there's that iron fist which is what romney would project or at what he has said let's go back to the cold war let's be bellicose let's threaten people with a war or do we put a velvet glove over the iron fist which. it's basically been the obama policy of

you know we'll help you out a little bit will be will talk conciliatory but get out of the way of the drone is going to drop a bomb on your head what do you expect from this debate monday night romney will basically say whatever he thinks it's going to take to get himself elected that's the problem he's got two constituencies basically that he's been appealing to one is basically old white male constituency people his age people in the fifty's sixty's seventy's who remember the cold war who still have that mentality who are who are very much in favor of the naked iron fist of american foreign policy and he's got to reach out to those people and obama doesn't have to bomb a historically has not and yet at the same time he knows that you know there's this younger generation that at least would like the velvet glove over it thank you mr herman thank you but you're going so as we watch the debate the questions are the two candidates different morning style then stops that i'm going to shut down and i'll certainly be right here after the debate try to answer that question and also every monday will be zooming into one issue one big issue right now and series of

pre-election reports make sure you don't miss that thanks for watching turning on the t.v. most americans are faced with a two horse race but it's not the full story there are other options and artie's helping those known as the third party candidates get some air time and give voters a choice i'll take the stand live here on r t with tom hartman there. this presidential election is not just about obama and romney there are also third party candidates on the ticket and they will influence its outcome see a debate among this nation's major third party candidates right here on our two jacobi twenty third. there is trouble in coal weight where police have fired tear gas and made mass arrests it's as tens of thousands protested against electoral reform which they say

will block opposition voices out of government we were poured on that shortly. and in business confirmation that british oil giant b.p. is to sell off its half of its joint venture to russia's ross now it's all coming up after the break. the sun rises over what seems like and most forest here in new directions crime hundred kilometers north of light of all stop as much of the world it's disappearing and accounts traffic great. bloggers both illegal and those finding ways to outsmart the system and filing down the forests of the put more risky region for them profit goes well beyond the future of our planet and the result could be an ecological crisis we are on the hunt for illegal loggers and

it's not going to be easy the forest is enormous and our chances are slim now for now we can stay in our dreams but as soon as we find solid tracks we'll have to drop our wheels and get out and move silently in order not to scare the loggers off alexander someone in ca has been a ranger for over twenty five years he can spend weeks at a time tracking a single group of law. here's what you should see it's easier to work when snow falls in autumn it's impossible to find human tracks and even transport tracks are hard to see after hours of driving we get sent in the right direction by word of mouth you can see that the ground is soft here which means that these twelve the tractor trails are very fresh which in fact means that we need to be quiet in order to not scare them off as we get closer. to. this team says they're illegal but have no documents now xander can now call the police to take over his work here is done he is overwhelmingly outnumbered there are too few rangers working in the promoter

ski region and the w w f says the government isn't doing enough to stop it just you . know with no one tries to stop them in just five years the force will be gone what will the people who live afterwards do it's a question more and more people are aware of today climate change in the safety of our environment as a whole are being discussed around the world and perhaps it's those small steps that might be a start to people living in harmony with nature. hello mark back to our team with me karen taraji on the street are saying a leading russian opposition figure has handed himself in to police and admitted to plotting mass riots in the country their neighbor. has now been arrested it's after

a recent documentary aired in russia which claimed opposition members received millions of dollars from georgia to cause mass unrest more details now from parties tom barton tom who else is being implicated by this confession. well karen a small group of protesters has gathered outside the investigative committee here in moscow in support of. he was the last to go to committee say he wrote a ten page confession saying that he plotted violence at a protest and made a six in opposition protest there and that he also received funding from a georgian m.p. he said he shouted to reporters as he was taken from court that he was tortured and that was made confession he was extracted from him do that under torture investigative committee says that they found no marks on his body but that they will investigate those claims this all follows the recent airing of

a documentary film on russian television which targeted. solve saying that showing a secret footage secretly filmed footage and saying that he amongst others with the group had planned violence at that rally and are not other violent uprisings and had colluded with georgian officials to as they put it overthrow the russian government in a violent uprising there is investigations ongoing into the protest on may the sixth which descended into violence with accusations of violence by both protesters and police right now and he will be keeping people updated on those ongoing investigation artie's tom barrett live from moscow thank you. after three years toiling in opposition pro independence parties are back in power in spain's basque

region separatism calls are now expected to grow louder with madrid austerity being the first in the firing line the winning basque nationalist party described mariano rajoy government as a brake on development in the region and vows to put its economy back on track there are more like sions in a few weeks when the wealthiest regional catalonia votes an area that's also seen growing separate. sentiment economics blogger gonzalo lead us says ailing finances and rising costs are why these regions want to go it alone. with economic problems and economic discontent you have the urge to split away from the majority because you feel that the majority as a minority you feel that the majority is not cognizant of your problems and help you to overcome and it's a certain kind of blinders that the minorities will have that they feel that they are not being taken care of when in fact everybody suffer equal b. and this is the case in spain everybody is suffering under the sea and stuff. but each independent region each of you just on this region feels

a day in particular are being made to suffer or it's impact the entire country to be a huge unemployment issue in spain fifty percent youth unemployment and twenty five percent joe adult unemployment and the problem of these. crisis that spain faces which is not going to have a happy ending and which is going to require drastic cuts. and just a generalized economic reboot of the country and that's why you're seeing so much protest and also a little gains for the independents because it's emerged that the deadly earthquake in spain last year could well have been manmade fall in line a report on the new research shows that claims of water extraction for a disturbing a fault line benchley leaving nine people dead and hundreds homeless. and the classics condensed as a possible to tell tolstoy's war and peace in one hundred forty characters twitter thinks you can and has a fiction festival to try prove it. lebanese troops and gunmen have reportedly

exchanged fire in the capital beirut wounding five people there's been a weekend of violence across the country sparked by the assassination of a senior intelligence official gen her son who was a strong critic of syria's president assad was killed in a car bombing in beirut on friday the opposition known as the march the fourteenth alliance. to mask this lebanese government for the killing of protesters demanding the prime minister's resignation police fired tear gas to push back crowds trying to storm the government building at least five people were killed in the clashes political analyst kamel says the opposition is using the syrian conflict for its own political gain and it's dragging lebanon into chaos. this is not a new it's always the accusation was against syria against bashar last so this is the same vision that we heard before we have to weigh them first to give them visitation should come quick and swift. but all the acquisition for now

and. the country here i think was a sham it's a recipe to take over the country by the marshal for i don't think this is going to happen this time around this house to bob otherwise we're probably heading for a very difficult. very chaotic but i'm a lot going on and i don't know who's going to be accountable for a thing fourteen of march. if they continue the violence because this will lead to a destruction of the country and to the stability of the country and everybody will lose over a hundred people have been injured in kuwait when police used tear gas and stun grenades to break up a series of anti regime rallies tens of thousands turned out in the capital against a like torah law reform which the opposition calls a constitutional coup which would significantly hamper its chances of warnings

december's alimentary the vote and reforms were announced after the emir just solved our lament which was dominated by the opposition protests against the ruling family which is a key u.s. ally have regularly erupted for over a year but eric draitser from stopping peerless and dot com thinks they're not getting international attention because of washington's. teaching interesting keeping the regime in power. well kuwait has long been a client state of the united states and more and more kuwait plays a. central role in the g.c.c. the gulf cooperation council kuwait has been used as a weapon by the us as a foothold in the region along the persian gulf and kuwait continues to fill that role it's a country that we don't hear so much about in the headlines but it is very much more parcel of us hegemony in the middle east the the western media which is controlled by the same interests which control wall street the western media it's not in their interest to tell the story of bahrain or kuwait in bahrain the united

states has military interests as well as political and propaganda interests bahrain is a client of the saudis which is in turn a client of the united states kuwait similarly is also a quiet state and for that reason you don't hear about rampant human rights abuses you don't hear about the attack on working people the way you do in places like libya or syria which were long since on the u.s. get list let's now take a look at some other world news headlines this hour there have been a violent demonstrations outside courcelles government assembly building in the capital with dozens of people arrested there angry at the e.u. sponsor talks to improve relations with serbia insisting there should be no meeting with belgrade while it continues to claim sovereignty kosovo declared independence in two thousand and eight following bitter conflicts during the break up of yugoslavia. israel's killed two palestinian soldiers in an air raid in northern gaza which it claims is in response to militants firing mortar rounds at their

troops one of the dead men belong to hamas but the others how to identify on tuesday hamas is legitimacy will get a boost with the first visit of a foreign leader since it took power five years ago the end there of qatar's trip is seen as a step towards breaking losses global isolation. and to stick around surely on r t it's business with katie. wealthy british style it's an awesome time to buy a. car that is pretty. margetts

why not scandal. find out what's really happening to the global economy in these kinds of reports on our culture is that so much going to give each musician the power to find the mark when turkey and its road ahead a little over a year ago turkey was being hailed as the new leader in model for the muslim world i won many turks the.

it would be soon which bright future you'd need from things to say. we. don't. live that welcomes business russia's energy major role snatch will pay over sixty

billion dollars to buy russia's third largest oil producer t. in k.b. pay no it's not so major bait paid will get twelve billion dollars in cash and about twenty percent of stock for its halls of the company all to support a boycott explains the deal is shaping up to look like it's got two steps to it ross nafta is going to pay b.p. just over seventeen billion dollars in cash as well as provide some twelve point eight four percent of shares of the russian state oil company to b.p. the second part of the deal is going to see b.p. use some four point eight billion dollars of the cash that rosneft are paying them in order to buy more shares of ross nash so eventually that should end up with b.p. owning just under twenty percent of shares nineteen point seven five percent to be exact of ross next chad. now for more on how the deal would change the global energy industry as

a whole we've got nicole right that's for us what changes to expect then. we'll know you can see people holding read the rules here from the kremlin in this deal has been very much cooked up by them on the russian side. i will be the biggest in russian corporate history and the biggest worldwide c.e.o. says it will cost sixty one billion dollars to paid the fee it would create the world's largest publicly traded but in perspective expanding rows you have to have twenty seven billion pounds of reserves because two x. twenty five billion that petronas twenty true it will change the face of the oil industry here in. north korea to seventy five percent state to p.p.p. is part of the supply acquiring it to the for it to be really nationalizes part of the oil industry and unwind this part of the chaotic privatization program in place

in the nineteen million to it's also in keeping with president vladimir putin's plans create state champions is to teach the important sectors and the expanded role will certainly be the way to. make thank you very much indeed. for joining. forces that think now the deal will increase debt but tim lee know that the right now investors don't seem to be too bold exec and tell you that they will staff stock is running about one point five percent so without a minus check out the most because i haven't got long left about twenty minutes with see how that set to close up the day is a mixed picture right now as all advances from achieving like helping out a little bit a simple house for the russian guys let's see how the ruble is holding. to the basket it is indeed losing out against the us dollar. the common currency that is still managing to down to you.